Rick: My Testimony of the Mormon Church

My name is Rick and I’ve been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints all my life. I was born into the church – my mother and father, I was there, second child and they continued having children, they have 9 children between them. But I grew up knowing the Gospel and when I became a missionary, by becoming a missionary, I decided to read what we call the Scriptures, The Bible, The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants – I read those books before I left as a missionary so I’d know for myself if what I read was true and if I believed everything. And I did.

And I had many experiences in my life that confirm to me that the Gospel, the things that we teach are valid and true and is real. I know that one time, as a missionary, kind of a funny story – I had a desire not to be working when I was working. Because we had this car that constantly broke down and was being fixed. And I was being frustrated because I thought that all my time was being spent fixing the car instead of talking to people about what I believed in. And so, one night in the middle of the week I said a prayer and I said “Heavenly Father, that’s it – either the car goes or I go”.

Kind of a rash prayer. The very next morning, at about 6 thirty early in the morning, my mission president called and he said “I know it’s not time that we transfer missionaries, but I need to send you to another place as a missionary and it’s the only place in the whole mission – which is in Pennsylvania – that doesn’t have a car. Is that alright with you?” Of course! I was on a bus after that. So bicycles, bus and walking was the rest of the mission experience for me. I never had a car again.

And so I realized that if you say a prayer, it could be answered really fast. But I’ve prayed about the things I’ve read in the Book of Mormon because it tell you in there, it tells me to test it, prove it, read it. First you have to read it and so, everybody listening to me, I would honestly say get a copy of the Book of Mormon and read it for yourself. And find out for yourself that it’s true because that way you can stand on your own two feet and say “I know this is right, this is really the truth” and you don’t have to rely on somebody else which happens a lot to people who grow up as members of the church. They grow up looking at their parents or their friends and relatives: “Okay, they go to church, they do this, they don’t do that because it’s wrong” and so you just go off that faith.

But it’s good to have your own. Cause when it comes down to certain decisions, it’s often your own testimony that you look at to see if you’ll do what is right or not. And I’ve been able to do that because I have this testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith, the prophet that translated the Book of Mormon, I know that he was a prophet. Through what I’ve studied about him, I studied his life, I read a lot about him, I’ve gone to classes – there were classes called “Institutes of religion” in universities and I’ve taken those and taken specific courses on church history and I’ve come to know those men and women that helped the LDS church grow and I understand that they had strong testimonies too.

But I know that if we pray, it will be answered. And I’ve seen that with my family, with being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We have the Priesthood of God and we can use that and I used it on several occasions to bless people, make them feel better, some cases heal them – some are miraculous. Some not even members of my church asked for blessing and next day they were better – it depended on their faith too.

So I would like to bear this, my testimony, to those of you who are listening or want to watch this: that the Book of Mormon is true, it’s the word of God. It fits very well with the other Scriptures, the Bible – Old and New Testament. And I’d encourage you to read it for yourself and not take anybody else’s word for it. And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ who’s the head of this Church, Amen.